A large field of 3-year-olds is expected when entries for the Sam F. Davis Stakes are drawn Wednesday at Tampa Bay Downs in Oldsmar, Fla.
The Grade 3, $200,000 Davis will be run Saturday at 1 1/16 miles as the first Kentucky Derby qualifier held at Tampa this season, with points distributed on a 10-4-2-1 scale. The Tampa Bay Derby (50-20-10-5) follows four weeks later on March 12.
Corniche, the unbeaten winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and a finalist to be named champion 2-year-old male of 2021 at the Eclipse Awards on Thursday night at Santa Anita, is training at WinStar Farm in Kentucky but is not quite ready to breeze, Marette Farrell, the racing manager for his owners, Speedway Stables, said Friday.
Oviatt Class, third in the Grade 3 Sham Stakes at Santa Anita on Jan. 1, has been sidelined with an injury that will keep him out of the major races for 3-year-olds in coming months.
“He hurt his hock coming out of the Sham,” trainer Keith Desormeaux said Thursday. “He’ll be out for four months and that takes us out of the Triple Crown. We’ll have a nice horse for the fall.”
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Todd Pletcher won four races on Pegasus Day, including both the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational and $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf at Gulfstream Park. And he looks just as loaded again here Saturday with 10 starters in eight races that include Mo Donegal in the $250,000 Holy Bull, likely favorite My Prankster in the Grade 3 Swale, top contenders Grand Sonata and Royal Spirit in the Grade 3 Kitten’s Joy, and Greatitude in the Grade 3 Forward Gal.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Zandon is on schedule to make his 3-year-old debut later this month for Chad Brown.
Jack Christopher – not so much.
Zandon, beaten a nose by Mo Donegal in the Dec. 4 Remsen at Aqueduct in just his second start, will be shipped to Fair Grounds for the Risen Star on Feb. 19 at 1 1/8 miles rather than run in the 1 1/16-mile Holy Bull on Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
“We went back and forth on whether to start out with him here,” Brown said. “But we prefer the longer distance of the Risen Star, and it has more points.”
Grade 3, $750,000 Southwest Stakes; 1 1/16 miles; Oaklawn Park; Jan. 29, 2022
(0 Derby qualifying points for first, 4 for second, 2 for third, 1 for fourth)
Winner: Newgrange, by Violence
Trainer: Bob Baffert
Jockey: John Velazquez
Owner: SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Robert Masterson, Stonestreet Stables, Golconda Stable, Siena Farm, Waves Edge Capital, Catherine Donovan, and Jay Schoenfarber
Beyer Speed Figure: 89
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Newgrange remained unbeaten in three starts Saturday, when he forged past the leaders late for a 1 1/2-length win over Barber Road in the Grade 3, $750,000 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park.
It was the second Grade 3 win for Newgrange ($5), who came into the Southwest off a victory in the Sham Stakes on Jan. 1 at Santa Anita. He won that race on the front end, but came from a stalking position in the Southwest under regular rider John Velazquez.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Rattle N Roll, unraced since winning the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland in early October, returned to the work tab early Saturday at Gulfstream Park when breezing three furlongs in company.
Working alongside Creative Minister, an unraced 3-year-old like Rattle N Roll trained by Kenny McPeek, Rattle N Roll went in 36 seconds as McPeek looks to make up for time lost to a minor rear-foot injury.
The mutuel field, the 24th or “all others” option, was the 9-5 favorite when the second of five pools in the 2022 Kentucky Derby Future Wager closed Sunday at 6 p.m. Eastern following the customary three-day run.
Two Kenny McPeek-trained horses, Smile Happy (8-1) and Tiz the Bomb (10-1), were the lowest odds among 23 separately listed interests. Then came Jack Christopher (14-1), Chasing Time (17-1), and Emmanuel (17-1), with all others 20-1 or higher.
The lowest $2 exacta will-pay is Smile Happy over the field (18-24), worth $70.60.
Grade 3, $200,000 Lecomte Stakes, 1 1/16 miles, Fair Grounds, Jan. 22, 2022
(10 Derby qualifying points for first, 4 for second, 2 for third, 1 for fourth)
Winner: Call Me Midnight, by Midnight Lute
Trainer: Keith Desormeaux
Jockey: James Graham
Owner: Peter Cantrell
Beyer Speed Figure: 88
